


Writing Prompt - Tender

by HotDogHowitzer



Series: Catalog [6]
Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Microfic, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26516389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HotDogHowitzer/pseuds/HotDogHowitzer
Summary: Well, it's a bit more than a microfic, but this is tje start of Audrey and Giuseppe's friendship, well before they fall for each other.
Series: Catalog [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1291121
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Writing Prompt - Tender

"The hell are _you_ doing here, Word Nerd?" Audrey growled before she could stop herself. Of all the people to pop in the door of her hospital room, she'd expected Giuseppe the least.

She barely knew the man.

Despite the gruff welcome, he smiled. "Nice to see you too, Audrey." He chuckled. "I heard you shattered your ankle, so I thought I'd check in and see how you're doing." He didn't seem put off by her annoyance in the least as he walked to the side of her bed and made himself comfortable in the visitor's chair, and set one of the coffee cup he'd been carrying on the table next to her.

"If you're so inclined." He said, gesturing to the cup before sitting back. "I don't know what you like, so it's just an ordinary French vanilla latte." Audrey blinked. She'd been eyeballing the two cups since he got there, secretly thinking how nice it would be if one was for her...

"Oh...thanks." She said, after an awkward silence, then took the latte and sipped at it tentatively. It was good. She wasn't picky to begin with, but sometimes it was nice to have something better than the powdered swill provided on deployment.

"How's the ankle?" Giuseppe asked, gesturing at the brace on her left foot. "Still tender," She moved her toes and winced. "But mostly healed thanks to the wonders of 24th century medicine. Too bad there's no way around the three months of physio." Giuseppe nodded.

"Going to be stuck planetside for awhile, then?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. Why, were you planning to visit me every day and bring me flowers and teddy bears?" Audrey said sarcastically, and Giuseppe laughed.

"No, definitely not. But I was wondering if i could pick your brain about what deployment is like."

Audrey shrugged. "Not any different than it is for any other ODST. Why do you want to hear the same ol shit from me?" His face lit up and suddenly Audrey felt like she'd opened Pandora's box. 

"Oh, uh well I just finished my latest contract, so I was going to work on my sci-fi story before I take another. I was hoping that talking to different people might help me write the characters better and give each one a unique view of things."

In the time it took him to finish what he was saying, Giuseppe had set his coffee aside, gotten out his hand terminal, and pulled up the voice recording app; he reminded Audrey of an excitable Cocker Spaniel puppy, wavy hair and all.

She didn't have anything else to do, so she grimaced again at the tenderness in her ankle and she made herself comfortable.

"Alright, Word Nerd." She gave him a smile that held a hint of a challenge. "Hit me."


End file.
